Event Planning Business Plan: Tips & Sample

An event planning business plan is an important part of starting an event planning business. A business plan is the first step to creating a solid plan for your business, including how you intend to operate, planning your financials, and also outlining a strategy for marketing and booking clients. 

If you wish to be successful in business, it’s important to have a plan of action in place before starting. Think of this as your roadmap for success. The great thing about a business plan is that it also provides you with something to measure your progress and success as you build your business. 

But how do you create an event planning business plan? Let’s explore some steps and sample information you should include. 

Key Elements of an Event Planning Business Plan

Executive Summary

The executive summary of your event planning business plan should give a brief overview of your business and what to expect. Think of this as an elevator pitch for your business, if telling a stranger what you do and how you can help them.

Here you’ll want to include your company name, your mission statement, your target market, and financial projections. Here’s an example:

Elegant Events by Jody is a full-service event planning company specializing in weddings, corporate events, and social gatherings. We aim to create unforgettable experiences for our clients by offering personalized and professional event planning services in Toronto. Our goal is to become the go-to event planner in the area, known for our creativity, attention to detail, and exceptional customer service.

PRO TIP: Write your executive summary after you’ve completed the other areas of your plan and it will make your summary writing that much easier. 

Company Description

Your company description should include a complete description of your business. For example, it should include information such as your business name, your business structure (are you an LLC or Sole Proprietor), your story, and most importantly the services you will be offering. 

Market Analysis

Think of your market analysis as a peephole to your success in the event planning industry. What does that mean? The more you know about the market, such as who your target clients are, what they need, who your competitors are, and how they are succeeding, the better equipped you will be to serve those clients. 

Your market analysis should include items such as target market details, market size, market demand, and, the strengths and weaknesses of competitors. Here’s an example:

Target Market: Our primary clients are individuals and organizations seeking to host weddings, corporate events, and social gatherings in Toronto.

Market Needs: There is a growing demand for professional event planning services in Toronto, to handle the complexities of organizing events, ensuring smooth execution and memorable experiences.

Competitive Advantage: Our personalized approach, creative event design, and comprehensive service offerings set us apart from competitors.

Marketing Strategy

As a Digital Marketing Agency, this is without a doubt our favourite area – marketing. While it can be tempting to start your business on your desire and passions, acquiring customers will require more than just hoping they will find you. 

Your marketing strategy should explore how you plan to get leads and bookings for your event planning business. Will this be through your website and organic SEO, social media, networking, partnerships, or paid ads? Knowing this and having a plan in place is key. 

Marketing is unfortunately one of those functions that a lot of small business owners, will leave until they get to the point in their business where they have no clients and start feeling anxious about their low revenue. You can get ahead of this by putting a strategy in place before your launch. 

Management & Operations

This section of your event planning business plan will outline how you plan to operate the business. This should cover your team, will you be running the business alone or will you be working with employees or contractors? You should also outline roles and responsibilities for yourself and any team members. 

Even though you might not have launched your business yet, you should outline a process for managing the business, clients, and vendors. Will you be working with clients directly? Who will be responsible for all parts of the event? Will you be contracting 3rd party vendors to assist with events? This information will help you to better understand what might be needed later on as you build and grow your business. For example, if you will be relying heavily on 3rd party vendors, maybe a key component of your business management should be networking and building vendor relationships. 

Financial Projections

The financial section of an event planning business plan can be intimidating for some new business owners. But if you wish to have a profitable business, this is not an area to glance over. 

Your financial projections should look at what you anticipate it will cost to start and grow your business. You should also explore if you will need funding and any information or steps you plan to take to secure this. The most important part of this section is also your expected profits. Think about how much you would ideally like to earn and how you plan to get there. 

The financial projections will also serve as a guide as you progress in your business to gauge if you’re on track or if you need to make changes along the way. Here’s an example:

Startup Costs: $10,000 for marketing, website development, office supplies, and initial operating expenses.

Revenue Streams: Service fees from event planning packages, coordination fees, and potential commissions from vendor referrals.

Financial Projections: Break-even within the first six months, with a projected revenue of $100,000 and a net profit margin of 20% by the end of the first year.

Tips for Writing Your Own Business Plan

Writing an event planning business plan might seem like a daunting task at the beginning of your journey, and one that might not seem like an important one. However, having a solid pre-written business plan is a useful guide if you wish to have a thriving business.

We’ve met many business owners who have started their businesses without a plan and are sometimes years into their journey, asking questions that could have been answered had they created one at the beginning. Think of it like this, imagine starting your business without a plan and then 1 year in realizing that there is no demand for the service that you’re offering. An event planning business plan helps you to avoid mistakes like these. 

Recommended Business Plan Writing Programs

We’ve provided a quick and simple business plan template in this article as an example you can work from. But tons of online programs will guide you through the business plan writing process with ease. Here are some of the programs that we recommend:

1. LivePlan
2. Futurpreneur
3. Biz Plan

Conclusion

An event planning business plan is your guide for starting and launching a successful event planning business. Whether you’re an event planner, wedding planner, or party planner, a business plan is key. This helps to outline how you plan to build and grow your business and a basic action plan for achieving your goals.